Plus ca change

Today, a three-way confluence of history and politics. I traced a link from Hullabaloo to this item from the Douglas County Oregon News-Review:

A small political gathering of about 18 liberal thinkers at River Forks Park Sunday afternoon erupted in conflict when about 35 members of the conservative tea party intruded upon the meeting, waving flags and holding signs accusing the rival group of being communists, Marxists and socialists.

The liberal group — organized by MoveOn.org — decided to leave the park and move its potluck to a nearby home. Members of the conservative group followed, parking at the entrance of a private lane leading to the home to continue their protest.

Roseburg Democrats Dean and Sara Byers said Monday they told tea party members who followed that they were not welcome to drive down the lane to their home.

The Byerses said they got out of their car to stop vehicles from entering the driveway and one tea party member almost ran them over.

Sara Byers said she was so shaken she called 911. She said a Douglas County deputy called about an hour and a half later and said he had been unable to respond because of other incidents. Byers said she was still considering filing a criminal complaint against members of the tea party for harassment.

A leader of the tea party group, Rich Raynor of Roseburg, disputed the liberal group's version of events.

“They are liars,” said Raynor, director of Douglas County Americans for Prosperity. “That is what communists do.”

Members of the smaller group said Monday they were intimidated by the tea partiers, whom they accused of violating their constitutional right to peacefully assembly.

Roseburg resident Lillen Fifield, 70, called the group's actions an “act of domestic terrorism” and said she was appalled that a peaceful gathering — mostly of women older than 65 — was interrupted.

“It is not OK to go around and intimidate and threaten people. That is not acceptable in a polite society,” Fifield said.

Conservative organizers defended their actions and said they will continue to protest similar gatherings.

“We were there to find out what they had to say and to bring a notice to the public that this kind of thing was going on. Quite honestly, if they have it again, then we are really going to make it well known,” Raynor said.

Raynor said the group believes MoveOn.org is a communist front and said he would not stand for America becoming a fascist nation.

Then, I glanced at the opening of a Calvin Trillin piece in this week's New Yorker. He describes an encounter at a meeting in Santa Fe with a woman who, when five-years-old, integrated a New Orleans public school. That was fifty years ago. Trillin covered the story for Time. He was on the “Seg Beat” as the civil rights movement gained momentum. In the New Yorker piece, Trillin describes standing among jeering protesters as they spewed hatred towards the young black children escorted into school by US marshals. “Black ape,” was one of the most memorable epithets.

The New Yorker article, in turn, triggered my memory of “Travels with Charlie.” Near the end of that book, Steinbeck describes watching a similar (the same?) scene. I think he was in New Orleans, but it could have been Little Rock. Steinbeck was fascinated by the women in the screaming mob. He noticed that most lacked wedding rings and were, he assumed, childless as well as unmarried. Their hatred and vile rants were all the more surprising because they had no direct role in the dispute.

There is a straight, unbroken, 50-year-long line from screaming southern segregationists to Oregon tea partiers. Nothing new. Just reblended ignorance, fear, anger, and stupidity. Who else could label MoveOn.org as communists and, at the same time, inveigh against fascism? What a bunch of losers.